I really wanted to love this book. Jeffrey Sachs is a thoughtful economist that knows how to take complex topics and make them understandable. He is willing to buck the powers within his industry that make capital the guiding force of economics. He is articulate, well respected, and engaging.

Sadly, The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity is filled with progressive platitudes. It’s a discouraging book that seems to magnify all the challenges our society faces. Whether it is climate change denialism, Wall Street greed, overweight citizens, a decline in personal character, or weak-kneed Obama supporters, Sachs has something negative to say about everybody. The first half of the book feels like an end of the world rant.

This is a shame because Sachs has a voice that deserves to be heard. His thoughts on balancing our economic system are ideas that we need to be discussing and weighing. Most of the concepts he puts forward would have to be called “progressive”, but they are certainly not socialistic. Sachs loves capitalism; he just thinks the free market needs rules. I’d agree with him about that.

If you are a conservative type and want to read something to get your dander up, pick up a copy of this book. After you explode and are ready to write Sachs off as a pink commie or something, give some thought to the ideas without all the ideologies you’ve grown accustomed to believing.

If you are a liberal type and want to read something that is preaching to the choir, pick up a copy of this book. You’ll love every word, though you might grow ever more fearful of the future.

For the rest of us, you might want to read this book because it offers a different view to the never ending debate about the proper role of government is in a capitalistic system. In the ongoing pendulum swing, we might need to shift back toward the things that Sachs outlines. Perhaps not as far as he calls for, but certainly in that general direction.